Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Carlson Gracie Jr.

Today I was fortunate enough to have a seminar at our school with BJJ's prince, Carlson Gracie Sr. We had about 30 students show up, and Jr. along with a couple of talented brown belts he brought, didn't disappoint.

Jr. stressed the basics, and showed our team simple, but effective movements in a couple different positions. We started out with mount escapes. Carlson Jr. showed a basic elbow escape re-guard which we drilled for a bit. He then showed an escape when you are being mounted and your opponent has a deep collar grip, obviously looking to set up a choke on you. We ended with a few "games" using different levels of resistance. They were very much in line with one of my coaches (Cthululu) teaching strategy.

We then moved to the half gwuard position. Jr. demonstrated how to make space when you are caught flat on your back getting crushed. He then showed a re-guard from the position.

We finished up with some guard passing. Carlson Jr. talked about how difficult passing the guard is, and said to get it down early, especially for BJJ players who compete. He notices beginners at tournaments get stuck in closed guards and just sit there having no idea what to do. He went on to show a knee in the butt guard break, with a "Gracie gift" pass (you use your free arm to reach back and break the guys legs open). Carlson Jr. went on to say that if you do the pass correctly, with your weight shifted back and good posture, that you cannot get triangled. We practiced this for a bit and then worked on a double under leg variation after that. We finished up with some guard passing "games", with different rules (subs allowed, no subs allowed, varying resistance).

It was a blistering hot 95+ degree day in Michigan, but it is one I won't soon forget. The techniques we learned weren't the latest and greatest crazy moves you can find on the internet. It was good old fashioned basic jiu jitsu, taught by a master. Carlson Gracie Jr. is a wonderful teacher and a gracious, respectful man. A few of us went out for a sandwich after the seminar, and it was fun watching the master play with one of our teammates kids (named Grace). He joked that his name was Gracie also.

I want to thank both the brown belts that came as well. One was Israel, and I unfortunately didn't catch the other gentlemens name. They were very skilled, and extremely helpful. They were walking around throughout the seminar, and both tweaked little things I could do better while viewing us doing the various drills. All of the people from Carlson Jr.'s organization are top notch, great guys.

I'm excited in working the techniques I learned, and hope that we can touch base with Carlson Jr. again soon!